What happens in D.C. does not stay in D.C.
We know that’s true in our own lives. What happens in D.C. affects our taxes and savings, our businesses and jobs, our schools and student debts. It affects what goes into our cars and our air, how long it takes us to clear airport security, our grocery bills.
The same is true for state and local governments. Uncle Sam giveth — with “stimulus” funds and countless grants and loans — and Uncle Sam taketh away — with Medicaid mandates, environmental-impact-study requirements, etc.
None of this should be a surprise. But there are subtler ways Washington affects governance from the Gold Dome to your county seat.
The red vs. blue game of partisanship is arguably fiercest at the national level, and media coverage of it consumes much of the dwindling attention the average American devotes to the news. The resulting lack of attention for local politics may be one reason we see so much dysfunction in local government, from indicted elected officials to suspended school board members — many of whom keep winning races in spite of everything.
And we may soon see a new twist on this federal trickle-down effect.
Consider the common thread linking three recent controversies: the Justice Department’s seizure of journalists’ private information, the National Security Agency’s collection of massive amounts of Americans’ electronic records, and the IRS’s extra scrutiny of conservative groups.
That thread is trust. What does the government know about you, and what might it do with that information? Can we trust the people we elect and the people they hire — and the people (and contractors) those people hire — to limit their activities to the agreed-upon public interest?
This inherited question could insinuate itself into more local matters just as the era of metadata begins to offer promising new ways to deliver public services.
Not that these possibilities were uncontroversial in the first place. Not when two of the most prominent ones relate to toll roads and the Common Core educational standards.
Fuel taxes are declining as a reliable funding source for transportation infrastructure, driven in large part by rising fuel-efficiency and politicians’ unwillingness to raise rates. Tolling is a possible replacement that remains a true user fee.
But an increase in tolling also means an increase in the number of points along the road at which the government collects data about where you’ve traveled.
Likewise, tracking student progress over the years, both as individuals and as a cohort — known as longitudinal tracking — could help identify gaps in the educational system. This could be done absent the Common Core, but it is a component of those nationwide standards.
A rather controversial component, at that. Responding to Common Core opponents, Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order prohibiting the state from sharing “personally identifiable data” with the feds. But that step does not appear to have satisfied Core opponents.
To be clear, I think there is great opportunity for Georgia in both expanded tolling and longitudinal tracking. I am not advocating a Big Brother wariness toward either.
But state and local officials would be foolish not to expect such a backlash, even more so in light of Washington’s scandals and revelations. The question of trust could not be more crucial.
